Nifty, friendly, unique hotel -- a real Palm Springs experience
Written: Sep 21 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: unique personality; friendly staff; no smoking allowed anywhere on the property
Cons: older property, needs some updating; limited front-desk hours
The Bottom Line: Recommended as a unique, friendly, reasonably priced alternative to the same old, same old.
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| m-maine's Full Review: Caliente Tropics Resort |
I am a tiki buff, so I knew I had to stay at the Caliente tropics Resort when I came to Palm Springs. It's a tiki-themed, independently owned hotel that caters to pet owners and non-smokers. It's definitely a refreshing change from generic, big-chain hotels, so I was willing to forgive the occasional problem.
Reservations
I made my reservation on the hotel's website, which offered better prices than sites like Expedia or Travelocity and allowed you a better choice of rooms. I went for the Lanai King "suite" for $95, which was supposed to include plush robes in the room, free breakfast, and free drinks delivered to the room. The robes were there, and the breakfast was free (but skimpy -- some fresh fruit and packaged scones, and that was about it), but instead of the drinks in the room, I was given coupons for a half-price drink at the bar when I checked in. I didn't have the website offer with me, so I didn't argue the point. If you reserve this offer, though, make sure you print out the full details.
The Property
The hotel is located on the east side of Palm Springs, a couple of miles away from the central business district. We were there on an out-of-season weekday, so it was very quiet, but it looked like it was generally a peaceful area anyway. Parking is plentiful and free.
There are tikis all over the place, and a general atmosphere of island living. Although we didn't use it, the hotel had a nice swimming pool and a hot tub, as well as a pretty, grassy area with little straw cabana-like structures. When we arrived, about 8 p.m., there was a dog show going on; it was very loud and the parking lot was jammed, but when it ended, folks cleared out pretty quickly, and I guess if you're a dog person, it's nice that the hotel let its property be used for this event.
The hotel has a tiki bar, the Reef, and there's a Mexican restaurant in front, although we weren't really clear if it's actually affiliated with the hotel or not. The "Resort" part of its name appears to be left over from its previous history, as it's not really resort-like, but it does offer massages and other spa treatments, which we didn't have time to take advantage of. Every staff person we met was laid back and friendly.
Room
The rooms are not tiki-fied, more in a vaguely tropical style. The "suite" was actually just a regular-sized room; I don't know why it was called a suite. The bathroom was tiny, just a toilet and a shower stall; the sink was outside the bathroom. It was comfortable enough and fairly quiet (once the dog show left), but almost no other guests were staying at the hotel that night, and the numerous signs admonishing guests to be quiet and considerate of others makes me think it might get loud sometimes. I have to put in a quick rave about the towels -- they were plush, thick, and huge, and you could buy them for a fairly reasonable price (I didn't have room in my suitcase and decided to order them from the website when I got home, but I found that the website charges almost twice as much as the hotel does, so if you like the towels, get them while you're there).
The biggest problem with the room was that the venetian blinds on the window, which faced the hallway, didn't close properly, so people could see into our room. We called the front desk, and a maintenance person came to our room within a few minutes. After examining the blinds, he said he couldn't fix it that night, but he would give us another room. He disappeared, and we packed up all the stuff we'd just unpacked. About ten minutes later, he reappeared and told us someone from Engineering would be by to fix the blind, and we wouldn't have to move. The Engineering person showed up and spent about 15-20 minutes fixing the blind (we also noticed that the overhead light in the room was burned out, so he changed the bulb for us). It was annoying, but to the hotel's credit, they took care of the problem right away and, when I mentioned it at check-out, took 10% off the bill. (Still, curtains instead of venetian blinds would have solved the problem and provided much more privacy, and it would have been nice to see better upkeep in general.)
I definitely recommend this hotel if you want to get away from the usual and feel like you're chilling out on an island in the middle of the desert. It was decently priced for Palm Springs, unique, and pleasant.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
m-maine
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Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 1 member
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